Research

The Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities is inviting Canadians with disabilities to apply for the 2017 Centennial Flame Research Award.

In accordance with the Centennial Flame Research Award Act, this annual monetary award is given to a person with a disability to enable him or her to conduct research and prepare a report on one or more Canadians with disabilities who have made a contribution to Canadian public life or to the activities of Parliament.

Funding for this award is collected from the Centennial Flame monument on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, and the monetary donations made to the Centennial Flame Research Award Fund. The total value of the award for 2017 is $5,500.

For your application to be considered, the following criteria must be met:

You must be a person with a disability;
You must submit a letter of presentation in which:
You describe who you are and identify your disability;
You describe your work experience and/or your community involvements;
You say why you deserve the award;
You elaborate further on your proposed subject and your research methodology;

You must submit a letter of support for your application from a person of your choice other than the subject of the research;
You must submit proof of Canadian citizenship;
All required documents must be sent to the Clerk of the Committee and must be postmarked on or before Friday, June 30, 2017.

Those interested in more information on this award may consult the Committee’s website or contact the Clerk of the Committee.

Availability and need of home adaptations for personal mobility among individuals with spinal cord injury

Abstract

Objective: To identify the availability and unmet need of home adaptations (HAs) among the Swiss population with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Community Survey 2012.

Participants: Individuals aged 16 or older with chronic SCI living in Switzerland.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Outcome measures: The availability of ten HAs (self-report) was analyzed by sex, age, living situation, indoor mobility, SCI severity, SCI etiology and time since SCI. The unmet need (self-report of not having a HA but needing it) of HAs was analyzed by financial hardship.

Results: Among the 482 study participants (mean age 55.2 years, standard deviation 15.0 years, 71.6% males), 85.1% had at least one HA. The most frequent HA was a wheelchair accessible shower (62.7%). Availability of HAs markedly varied with indoor mobility (e.g. 38.4% of participants using a wheelchair had a stair lift compared to 17.4% of those walking) and with SCI severity (e.g. 54.8% of those with complete paraplegia had a wheelchair accessible kitchen worktop compared to 26.0% of those with incomplete paraplegia). Unmet need was highest for adjustable kitchen worktops (78.7% of those with a need) and adjustable kitchen cabinets (75.7%) and lowest for wheelchair accessible showers (9.4%) and grab bars next to the toilet (8.5%). No significant differences in unmet need were found when stratifying for financial hardship.

Conclusion: Availability of HAs is dependent on indoor mobility and SCI severity. There is a considerable degree of unmet need for selected HAs, which couldn’t be explained by financial hardship.

Meet Sergio Canavero, the brain behind the world’s first head transplant, and, perhaps, the key to everlasting life

Sergio Canavero, the 52-year-old Italian surgeon, relishes being described “crazy as a bat.” He hasn’t watched television since 1993. He doesn’t own a car. He’s felt a deep affinity with Spider Man’s nerdy Peter Parker. He has authored a book on the techniques of female seduction, adheres to a strict Mediterranean diet (“no bovine meat”), meditates and refrains from drink. He practices jujutsu and, in a recent interview, reflected on his “six-pack.” Sometime next year, if he can find a hospital that will take him, Canavero will oversee the decapitation of the healthy head of one man and its transplantation onto the surgically beheaded body of another. And he doesn’t plan to stop there. In an hour-long Skype conversation with National Post, the eccentric physician outlined his vision to make us immortal. Read More

When University of Alberta spinal cord researcher Karim Fouad began his career, not a lot was known about injuries of the central nervous system—the brain and spinal cord.

“What researchers did know is that nerve cells don’t regrow,” said Fouad, who was named as a tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Spinal Cord Injury as part of a $11.9-million federal government funding announcement Dec. 2. “I wanted to know why not.” Read More

First Ever Quadriplegic Treated With Stem Cells Regains Motor Control in His Upper Body

For the first time ever, neuroscientists have treated a total quadriplegic with stem cells, and he has substantially recovered the functions of his upper body only two months into the process. Read more

Research Study

Researchers at U of A and U of C looking for participants in study about FES reducing muscle fatigue. For more information, contact Dr. David Collins 780-492-6506dcollins@ualberta.ca or Trevor Barss, 780-492-4759 or tbarss@ualberta.ca. For more information about the project click here.

Powered robotic exoskeletons represent an emerging technology for the gait training of Spinal Cord Injured (SCI) persons. The analysis of the psychological and physical impact of such technology on the patient is crucial in terms of clinical appropriateness of such rehabilitation intervention for SCI persons. Read More

We carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and safety of phosphodieterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitors on erectile dysfunction (ED) secondary to spinal cord injury (SCI). Read More

ISSCR Releases Updated Guidelines for Stem Cell Science and Clinical TranslationWashington, D.C.; 12 May 2016 – The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), the world’s largest professional organization of stem cell scientists, today released newly updated guidelines for stem cell research and the development of new clinical therapies. The new guidance comes at a time when rapidly evolving technologies like gene editing in human embryos and emerging areas of stem cell discovery and its applications are providing unprecedented opportunities to understand human biology and disease, but also raising questions that have social and ethical implications. The guidelines build on widely shared principles in science that call for rigor, oversight, and transparency in all areas of practice. Adherence to these principles provides assurance that stem cell research is conducted with scientific and ethical integrity and that new therapies are evidence-based.Read More

Whether or not nerve cells are able to regrow after injury depends on their location in the body. Injured nerve cells in the peripheral nervous system, such as those in the arms and legs, can recover and regrow, at least to some extent. But nerve cells in the central nervous system — the brain and spinal cord — can’t recover at all.

A UCLA-led collaboration has identified a specific network of genes and a pattern of gene expression mice that promote repair in the peripheral nervous system in a mouse model. This network, the researchers found, does not exist in the central nervous system. The researchers also found a drug that can promote nerve regeneration in the central nervous system. Read more

Human trails for Australian-made bionic spine to start next year

Patients left paralysed by injury or illness could be back on their feet again, thanks to a breakthrough by Melbourne researchers who have designed a revolutionary bionic spine. Read More

One Small StepA paraplegic undergoes pioneering surgery

When a spinal cord is damaged, location is destiny: the higher the injury, the more severe the effects. Read More..

Chronic Trials: 2015 A Banner Year

A year-end look back at spinal cord injury research: by at least one yardstick, it was a very hopeful year. There were an unprecedented number of clinical trials for individuals with long-term SCI. Read More

SCI & Understanding Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity is a word that is used frequently when discussing the nervous system especially in terms of recovery. It stems from the words “neuro” meaning pertaining to the nervous system and “plastic” meaning moldable. It is a term that has been created to note the ability of the nervous system to adapt to change from life experiences to recovery for nervous system injury. Nervous system function is an extremely complex process that is not fully understood. But scientists are attempting to unravel the mystery in hope of finding treatments for restoration and recovery. This is a very simplistic review to understand neuroplasticity as it is a word you will be hearing frequently.

Most SCI/sex information after an injury is geared toward men: performance enhancing drugs, male fertility, catheters, penile implants, etc. Women are often told little beyond the fact that they are still able to have children. But we find out there is much, much more.

Gary Wheeler PhD MS Society – Alberta and NWT Division, Adjunct Professor, University of Alberta and Psychologist, Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, contributed to a recent study entitled, FES-Rowing can alter cardiac structure and function in SCI: a pilot study, which holds promise for improved physical fitness and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease for persons with spinal cord injury. For many with SCI, being able to exercise with sufficient intensity is problematic. However, FES is changing all that. As a cutting edge exercise therapy for paralyzed limbs, it can offer a high intensity workout. While further studies involving greater numbers of SCI individuals is needed, early results demonstrate that people whoengage in FES-rowing can improve their cardiovascular response to high intensity exercises in a similar manner to non-injured persons.The concurrent improvement in physical fitness may also aid participation in various activities of daily living, with the potential to support greater independence.

The Society for Neuroscience (SFN) annual meeting recently concluded its gigantic week-long data drop. This meeting is something to behold; Washington D.C., overrun with neurogeeks, hosted the world’s largest gathering of scientists who work on brain and spinal cord research, 30,000 strong from more than 80 countries. They gather to share new, often unpublished data, and to keep up what everybody else is working on in dozens of brain research and disease subcategories.

The Spinal Cord Injury Research Initiative (SCIRI) Group

SCITCS has partnered with three students, who are registered with the Undergraduate Research Initiative (URI) University of Alberta. Purpose to research areas of benefit to people with SCI and other conditions. We are privileged to introduce Kale, Karl and Sirisha,

Kayle Simpson Karl Narvacan Sirisha Valupadas

Kayle Simpson is a 3rd year undergraduate student in the Mechanical Biomedical Engineering Co-operative program at the University of Alberta. She is particularly interested in the role that Biomedical Engineering plays in assisting individuals with spinal cord injuries.

Kayle is a passionate member and leader of an International Women’s Fraternity on campus, Delta Gamma. Their purpose is to promote community involvement, social responsibility and academic excellence. The organization hosts several large fundraising events each year to raise money and awareness for visual impairment. In addition to this, Kayle is trained as a sighted guide for the visually impaired, and volunteers her time on a weekly basis through the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. She also enjoys spending time with residents at the local Strathcona Senior Centre, where she volunteers frequently. Kayle is also a member of the Golden Key International Honors Society.Kayle enjoys music and being physically active. She is a former member of an internationally competitive choir and many competitive sports teams. She now enjoys playing the piano and singing in her spare time, and she is currently training for her first fitness competition.

SCIRI is Kayle’s first experience in undergraduate research. She is eager to dive into such an incredible learning opportunity and to contribute to the advancement of spinal cord injury treatment. She is also excited to pursue similar research initiatives full-time in her future co-operative work terms

Karl Narvacan is a 4th year BSc Honors Neuroscience student in the University of Alberta with deep interest in health care research. He has been working as a summer research student in the last two years with the Alberta Ocular Gene Therapy Team, an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers within the university. His work focuses on choroideremia, a degenerative retinal disorder causing progressive blindness in men across the world, and how their underlying cardiovascular diseases may adversely affect the efficacy of its potential gene therapy.

He is very excited to be part of SCI Research Initiative (SCIRI) this year and hopes to use his experiences in pursuing the advancement of spinal cord injury research in Alberta!

Sirisha Valupadas is a 3rd year undergraduate student at the University of Alberta. Her major is in the Biological Sciences, with a minor in Political Science. She has pursued research opportunities in a number of different fields including the environment, healthcare and public health; examples of topics include anaerobic digestion, mercury levels in Alberta fish, as well as cardiology and renal function.

In addition to a variety of research interests, Sirisha is a public speech enthusiast. She is currently the Northern Alumni Representative for the Alberta Speech and Debate Association as well as the Director General for the 2015 High School Model United Nations at the University of Alberta, coaching and mentoring after many years of competing herself. She is a Team Leader in Business Development for AIESEC Edmonton, AIESEC being the largest student run international organization, whose job is to facilitate international internship and community development opportunities for students around the world. She is also a National Young Leader with the National Student Network. With a keen interest in internationalism, Sirisha would eventually like to be involved in the sphere of international development and global healthcare. She has also spent 7 years volunteering and working at the University of Alberta Hospital and Stollery Childrens Hospital. Sirisha enjoys music, having been trained in singing, dancing, and classical violin.

She is very excited to be apart of the SCRI, and looks forward to learning and contributing to advancement in spinal cord injury treatment